"That's enough, Sakazuki."
On the deck of the Moby Dick, Whitebeard held his naginata, the blade pointing toward Akainu as he issued a grave warning.
Despite being nearly seventy, his voice was deep and powerful, cutting across the battlefield to reach the admiral hundreds of meters away.
In his steady gaze, both the admiral and the entire naval fleet appeared as insignificant as children.
"Whitebeard, this has nothing to do with you. My target is that little punk named Iggy. From six years ago until now, he's infiltrated the Holy Land of Mariejois, killed six Celestial Dragons, and slaughtered hundreds of Marines. This boy is a grave threat to world justice. The World Government has placed a 700 million Berry bounty on his head and authorized me to lead this fleet to capture him."
(Some of you would probably think the bounty is too small for someone that killed a CD, but it isn't small. Besides he isn't much of a threat to the World Government (Yet).)
Whitebeard, Emperor of the Sea, was no mere small-time pirate. Attacking him recklessly would only ensure mutual destruction.
Akainu had no choice but to temporarily rein in his aggression and justify the pursuit by listing Iggy's numerous crimes, appealing to law and justice.
"None of that concerns me, Sakazuki. This is my sea, and here, I make the rules."
Even a monster of a Marine admiral was still just a younger generation in Whitebeard's eyes. Letting him take someone from his territory without resistance would make a mockery of the name "Emperor of the Sea."
In the world of pirates, where might makes right, ranks like admiral or fleet commander were just temporary titles.
"I have my principles, Whitebeard. I hope you won't interfere. I must take him today."
Despite standing before the world's strongest man, Akainu tried to reason. It was as close to humility as a Marine admiral could get. But his brand of absolute justice—the reason he joined the Navy and rose to admiral—was a line he could never cross.
Faced with a criminal who had defied the World Government multiple times, there would be no compromise.
"I admire men with convictions... but—"
Whitebeard turned as Marco landed gently on the deck in his phoenix form, setting down the charred and barely conscious bodies of Ace and Iggy.
Ace was covered in burns, and Iggy had lost both arms, having shielded Ace from a lethal blow.
Whitebeard slowly stood from his wide throne-like chair. His towering frame moved in front of the two teens, facing Akainu with the presence of a true king.
"Ace's brother is also my son. And no one... touches my family."
The instant those words left his mouth, Whitebeard's pupils flashed, and his naginata struck the deck with a thunderous crack. His Conqueror's Haki surged outward like a tidal wave.
The calm sea around the Moby Dick suddenly writhed. A wave spanning over a kilometer surged upward, its monstrous current threatening to capsize even warships.
The winds howled. Akainu pulled his cap down low as his justice coat whipped furiously behind him.
"If that's how it is, then I'll end him right here!"
Akainu's frown deepened. Wrinkles carved into his face tightened like chiseled lines, and his burning glare locked onto Whitebeard.
He had faced pirate warlords countless times—but this was a different scale. This was the strongest man alive.
Billowing black smoke erupted from his body as he gathered volcanic power in both hands.
"Meteor Volcano!"
The horn of war sounded once more.
Akainu launched himself into the air from the deck, arms engulfed in molten magma. His fists transformed into a barrage of magma projectiles, shaped like massive fists raining from the sky.
Like a fiery meteor shower, they lit up the sky, streaking down toward the Moby Dick.
The commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates began to move, but Whitebeard held out a hand. Stepping forward, he gripped his massive naginata with both hands, its blade humming with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
"Drink!"
With a mighty swing, Whitebeard cleaved downward, unleashing a shockwave of blinding white energy—a slicing blade of air that surged forward like a divine cleaver.
The quake slash tore across the ocean, parting the sea like a shark fin from the ancient world, colliding head-on with the flaming meteor fists.
A deafening explosion rocked the battlefield.
For three miles in every direction, the clash of magma and quake unleashed a storm of destruction. The meteor fists burst apart like fireworks against a divine wall.
Bathed in the pale light of the impact, Akainu's expression twisted.
"Not good...!"
He landed back on his ship's bow but immediately sprang away, leaping from deck to deck until he reached an auxiliary vessel far on the fleet's edge.
Behind him, the quake blade struck the main battleship.
The impact hit with a thunderous crack as if shattering the world itself. The warship exploded instantly.
The shockwave rippled outward, churning the ocean, collapsing the seafloor thousands of meters below, and sending water erupting in all directions.
The expanding white light pushed a colossal tsunami skyward, engulfing the entire naval fleet in a cataclysmic wave.
Wooden beams, metal, and debris scattered like leaves in a storm. Over a dozen warships were torn apart by the invisible quake force, tossed like paper boats in a hurricane.
When the chaos settled and the world quieted, the Marine fleet had been annihilated.
Only a single auxiliary ship remained, barely intact.
Akainu, his body halfway gone, stood at the edge. Molten magma dripped onto the deck from where his lower half had been severed. Even his logia regeneration could barely hold together his body.
He forced himself upright, magma bubbling as his lower half reformed.
Glaring at the calm and unshaken Moby Dick, his teeth clenched so tightly they nearly cracked.
"...Retreat!"
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